Lee — co-creator of iconic Marvel superheroes such as Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantasic Four and countless others — will be signing autographs June 17-19 during the annual event at the Colorado Convention Center, the convention announced Tuesday. He will also have a panel scheduled for June 18.

“It all started with Stan Lee. He’s the creator of the Marvel universe — a universe that’s inspired comic-book geeks for generations and recently captured the Hollywood spotlight with blockbusters like the Avengers and X-Men,” Denver Comic Con director Christina Angel said in a news release. “His genius has reached all corners of pop culture. It’s a true honor to be able to bring him to Denver Comic Con.”

Stan Lee, founder of Marvel Entertainment Inc., poses next to a Spider-Man model in his office in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., in this file photo taken on Dec. 18, 2008. (Jonathan Alcorn, Bloomberg)

Former Marvel Comics president and chairman Stan Lee is getting ready for Free Comic Book Day and he’s inviting fans everywhere to do the same.

The legendary co-creator of iconic heroes like The Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man and Iron Man promoted Free Comic Book Day which takes place Saturday, May 3 at participating stores around the world. Fans will have 60 comics to choose from including “Teen Titans GO”, DC’s upcoming “The New 52: Futures End”, “Transformers vs. GI Joe” and “Guardians of the Galaxy”.

Sponsored by multiple renowned comic publishers including Archiecomics, Dark Horse Comics, DC Entertainment and, of course, Marvel Comics, Free Comic Book Day is an opportunity for readers, young and old, to get into the world of comics. It’s also a chance for old fans to discover something new.

A young Batman confronts the Riddler at 2013’s Denver Comic Con. Photo by John Leyba, The Denver Post.

The 2014 Denver Comic Con will feature celebrity guests from the original “Star Trek” series, “The Walking Dead” and “Power Rangers” as well as comic book artists from “Sandman,” “The Avengers” and “Batman and Robin,” organizers announced Wednesday.

Unlike 2013’s installment, the first round of 2014 guest announcements includes no mainstream stars. Last year organizers announced Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee early on and replaced him with “Star Trek” favorite William Shatner when Lee canceled the week before the event.

Kimberly Kane as Wonder Woman in “Wonder Woman XXX: A Porn Parody,” directed by Axel Braun. Parodies, once a cheaply filmed niche segment of the adult movie market, are the hottest thing in porn these days. They are filled with top-notch special effects, real story lines, actors who can sometimes act and costumes occasionally deemed accurate. (AP Photo/Vivid Entertainment Group)

So being a geek is mainstream now, apparently. But it didn’t take that revelation for seemingly unnerdy industries to start recognizing this growing (and spending) demographic.

Since the Tijuana Bibles of the early twentieth century, satire of popular fantasy characters in less-than-virtuous situations has been popping up in all sorts of media. And erotic fan fiction has plagued (or blessed, depending who you are) most popular franchises in recent memory. Now it’s the adult film industry’s turn.

Once known mostly for badly lit, shoestring-budget films with plot holes you could park a Super Star Destroyer in and dialogue that makes The Hulk seem almost as articulate as Professor X, a new crop of superhero parody porn movies making waves recently even have budgets as much as five times greater than that of Manos: The Hands of Fate.

The movies are timed to release around the release dates of the major motion pictures they parody and despite the much higher production costs they reportedly sell for as much as three times more than their more familiar, done-in-a-day counterparts. For an industry assaulted by online piracy, amateur copycats and copious overseas competition, this new direction is as welcome as one of Scotty’s best-timed beam-outs.

The AP lists several recent naughty knock-offs including those featuring an imitation Iron Man, a spurious Superman, a bogus Batman, and a pseudo Spider-Man. There is even would-be Wonder Woman. Next up, apparently, is an ersatz Wolverine flick from the genre’s groundbreaker (and apparent huge comics collector), Axel Braun. There is a (Bad. Really bad.) work-safe trailer on YouTube if you’re feeling like you haven’t groaned enough today.

Why are these parodies having such an impact? Obviously, if these films are making enough money to keep coming, someone has money to spend on “high quality” pornographic parodies. That revenue is an irresistible temptation for an industry whose profits are down billions from one-time highs.

Geekery may be the new norm, and I know more than a few nerds whose social graces approach normal, but let’s face it: a lot of us are still just as awkward and impure as ever, full of the wishes and wonders that Jason Lee brought to life as Brodie in Kevin Smith’s punk/nerd powerhouse “Mall Rats” with scenes like this discussion with Stan Lee:

So if you were to look for a nerdy pornographic delight, which of course you never would, what superhero, sci-fi stud or video game vixen would you most like to see? Tell us in the comments below, but please — keep your words and links SFW. This is a family-friendly nerd blog, after all, even if it is a study of stimulation.

More than 45,000 flooded the convention floor for the Denver Comic Con June 2, 2013 at the Colorado Convention Center. The convention ended its three day marathon with an appearance by William Shatner. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Wow. That is a lot of nerds. And I was one of them.

This year’s Denver Comic Con topped out of 61,000 visitors, way more than the 47,000 event officials originally predicted hours after the final day June 2.

In fact, that 61,000 figure is more than double the amount who turned out for the 2012 inaugural event when 27,700 costumed-con goers invaded the streets of downtown Denver.

Even more impressive, 61,000 is a little less than half the number of people, 130,000, who attended San Diego Comic Con last year, and that event was founded in 1970! Read more…

Writer Stan Lee arrives at the world premiere of “Marvel’s Iron Man 3” at the El Capitan Theatre on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, in Los Angeles, Calif. (AP file photo)

You could hear nerd hearts break a mile away when The Denver Post reported that Stan Lee cancelled his appearance at this year’s Denver Comic Con a week before the event.

I was just as bummed as anyone else because I was really looking forward to telling him how I connected with a character he created (Peter Parker) because he give him such a great last name. Obviously.

Fans were told the reason Lee, 90, cancelled was due to a shoot for an upcoming film. But there was some speculation that the sudden slip was due to a decline in Lee’s health.

Rebecca Berlin, 22, of Aurora, poses for a photo in her Spawn costume on Saturday, June 16, 2012, during the first annual Denver Comic Con at the Denver Convention Center. (Seth A. McConnell, The Denver Post)

On a side note; did you already burn through all the new Arrested Development episodes? You had a plan to make them last, but ended up knocking them out in one night, huh? Me too. Oh, and did Portia de Rossi ( Lindsay Fünke) have some work done, because she really looks different?

Anyway.

Comic con officials said while there were some refunds requested for the Stan Lee packages due to his cancellation last week, tickets to meet and spend some time with William Shatner are being snapped up. Con officials expect those packages to sell out, just as the Stan Lee packages did.

“Don’t call him Captain Kirk. Don’t call him Captain Kirk,” I thought to myself right before the start of my interview with William Shatner on Thursday.

See, there are times when interviewing a celebrity that a nerd at heart — and in every other sense — has to stop and think, “WOW.” Interviewing William Shatner was one of those moments for this nerd.

Truth be told, my love of “Star Wars” outweighs that of “Star Trek,” but not by much. So getting a few minutes of Captain James T. Kirk’s time to talk about his upcoming appearance at this year’s Denver Comic Con and other things nerdy was an experience unlike any other.

So, set phasers to full-on-nerd. Energize.

The questions you’d expect were asked — his thoughts on the rebooted films and why he enjoys attending comic cons, but one question had the best response with the biggest laugh.

Stan Lee, who is the guest of honor the second annual Denver Comic Con, has learned a thing or two over the years about what sticks. (Photo by Reed Saxon)

NOTE: Bad news, true believers. Stan Lee has canceled as the guest of honor at the Denver Comic Con this year, so we had to pull our print interview with him (slated to run in this Sunday’s Denver Post’s A&E section). However, seeing as he’s Stan Lee and all, we figured it was still worth running the full interview online.

By any sane, human standard, Stan Lee should have lost his verve for the entertainment business decades ago. Then again, Stan Lee rarely lives in the realm of those either sane or human.

The 90-year-old former president and chairman of Marvel Comics was a fixture on the comic-book convention circuit long before many of its attendees were born. And while it’s all fun and games to many fans, it’s also now a multibillion dollar global industry with huge corporate stakes — and nasty copyright battles.

Lee keeps mum on the legal stuff, but even if he doesn’t call the shots at Marvel anymore, the co-creator of Spider Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man and Thor says he hasn’t lost any of the excitement or optimism he has for the creative side of the industry.

“It’s because I love what I do,” Lee said over the phone recently. “I love talking to the fans and I love being in those little movies and doing those cameos.”